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Why Do High-Growth Companies Need People Operations?

digital_people_in_the_cloudPeople Operations might not be a buzz word anymore after tech giant Google introduced the term for a revamped human resources department. The phrase became synonymous with the lavish perks and benefits the company gives its employees. Those fringe benefits are put in place namely to retain top talent, which can be hard to come by as high-growth businesses, especially in the tech sector, battle it out for a limited pool of employees.

While it’s tagged with a name like People Operations, behind the moniker lies reams of data sets enabling this form of HR to make better, more informed decisions about its workforce. Therefore, it’s no wonder innovative companies in industries other than the tech world, adopt this HR approach as well.

What can people operations do?
Businesses taking off and experiencing a high level of growth are more than likely under the gun when it comes to making strategic decisions. They can’t afford to rest on their laurels, because doing so could mean losing good job candidates to other firms or seeing quality employees leave their fold for a new company. People operations and the big data it analyzes can solve this problem.

GoodData, a growing analytics company, knew it needed this type of HR if it wanted its business to remain relevant. People Operations allows for scalability so it can keep up with the growth of a company. With all departments in a business sharing the same data set, everyone is on the same page and working toward the end goal and success of the company. According to GoodData, People Operations enable a “bird’s eye view” of an enterprise by pointing out gaps in the organization and where the business can make changes. Additionally, managers and HR can see where the gaps in productivity are so they can make smarter decisions regarding hiring, firing and retention.

Spotify, the growing streaming music service, puts its people operations to the test to find out what works and what doesn’t to generate happy and productive staff members, according to iDoneThis Blog.

Organizational success for all
While People Operations uses data to identify the challenges businesses face, it’s not all about the numbers. Big data does give an enterprise a bigger picture of how it’s operating, but people operations doesn’t simply use the information to decide who goes and who stays. Businesses may also use People Operations to form their company culture and come up with incentives for employees.

The music service focuses more on the efforts employees made to complete projects instead of the results. If a plan doesn’t work, the company wants staff members to learn from it and grow, so it enacted meetings where staff members look at both the failures and successes of projects once they’re completed. The enterprise uses these retrospectives to learn from mistakes and hopefully move forward.

Under its People Operations initiatives, Spotify has its managers act more like guides and coaches to develop employees. This approach to HR gives high-growth enterprises a chance to mold and shape their company culture along with how they relate to their staff members. It’s a much more scalable, malleable and innovative way to develop and retain a workforce.

By using People Operations and big data, businesses can leave the old, stodgy HR practices behind for a more streamlined, efficient and effective department. People Operations isn’t just HR with a revamped, more modern sounding name. It’s a totally new approach to solving problems businesses face in the 21st century.

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